Artis buys second Prime phase.

Byline: Matt M. Johnson

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust has paid nearly $42 million for the second phase of Prime Therapeutics' new headquarters in Eagan just months after construction was completed.

Winnipeg-based Artis paid $41.96 million for a 165,000-square-foot portion of the building, according to a certificate of real estate value made public on Monday. Artis paid $56.86 millionlast December for the 223,000-square-foot first phase of the office complex at 2900 Ames Crossing Road. The property is in the southeast quadrant of interstates 35E and 494.

The seller is Minneapolis-based United Properties, which developed the office space. The developer closed out construction of the building last Friday, said company spokeswoman Sheila Thelemann.

Artis has an ongoing relationship with United Properties, said Philip Martens, an executive vice president for Artis' U.S. region. United Properties construction quality and Prime's commitment to a 15-year lease in the building made it a good fit for the REIT, he said in a Tuesday interview.

"We're happy to get this kind of quality in the Twin Cities," he said.

The latest transaction, which closed on Oct. 25, works out to about $254.31 per square foot of space. That is just slightly less than the $255 per square foot Artis paid for the first phase of the building. Dakota County values the property at $40.8 million for tax purposes.

Artis agreed in September 2018 to buy the 47-acre campus in pieces as each of the two phases were completed. An approximate $98.5 million final purchase price was agreed upon before the purchases of either phase closed.

About 900 Prime Therapeutics employees moved into the building a year ago, shortly after the first phase of construction was finished, said Kim Gibson, Prime's assistant vice president of real estate. Another 750 workers moved in this past summer after United Properties finished the bulk of construction on the second phase.

Another 500 Prime employees are expected to move into the building into next year, Gibson said in a Tuesday interview. The building is expected to house a total of 2,000 employees.

Prime is consolidating operations from four leased buildings in Eagan and Edina at the new...